Just a Cup of Coffee
by kinseyjo
Summary: Booth and Brennan were together in the past but aren't in the present. Can a simple cup of coffee change their future?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Are you all waiting with bated breath? Soooo ready to read the continuation of What We Deserve? Well, STOP. Read the A/N first! :) First of all, a big fat THANK YOU DAHLINGKS to my bff, the incredible Miss SSJL for letting me put my spin on her story. I hope you love it and I have tissues if you're bawling uncontrollably, love. **

**Second, Jamie left the story like a "choose your own adventure." If you don't like the adventure I've chosen, please hold your hate mail. I promise there will be twists and turns. **

**Last thing to know before I just shut-the-eff-up-Kinsey, is that there will be flashbacks in this first chapter, also in chapters to come. They will always be in italics. Present-day in the story finds us two years after the birth of Booth and Brennan's child.**

**Well? What are you waiting for? Go read!!**

**And as always, I tack your reviews up all over my office and bask in their glow. So please. Help me avoid the tanning bed this summer. Hee.**

**XOXO,  
K to the J**

Temperance Brennan loved the last day of class before a test. She had always taken great pride in her work, and teaching was no different. She enjoyed her job immensely, and rarely experienced any regret that she'd taken the job teaching an entry-level Biology class at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

She'd started out teaching graduate students anatomy and physiology, but one semester the chair of the department had come to her and informed her that they'd had an influx of freshmen biology students, and could she please take one little section? Brennan had protested mightily, informing her boss of her distaste for those barely out of adolescence with all their left-over high school drama and raging hormones. Dr. Woods had assured her that the drama would hardly affect her and that the raging hormone problems were pretty much taken care of by high school graduation. Brennan had countered that the younger students would be away from home the first time and incredibly irresponsible and lazy, and she would not be willing to make exceptions for students who felt they deserved it because of what sports they played, who they were, and (most annoyingly) who their parents were. Dr. Woods could not expect her to just turn a blind eye to things that so strongly contradicted everything Brennan believed in.

But in a move Brennan was familiar with from her time at the Jeffersonian Institute, Dr. Woods pretty much told her that she was only asking out of professional courtesy. Come fall semester, Brennan would be teaching three sections of Anatomy and Physiology 540, and one section of Biology 103.

"_Good morning, class. My name is Dr. Temperance Brennan. Welcome to Biology 103. For many of you, this may be your first college course. I encourage you to take it _seriously,_" Brennan introduced sternly. "I do not plan to base your grade on attendance; you are all adults and quite capable of showing up; however, my tests are based off of my lectures, so if you _are_ absent, I strongly suggest you get notes from someone that was here. Also, if you have a legitimate reason for being absent, I will make you a copy of my own lecture notes – obviously a better choice, since as I said, that's where your tests come from." Brennan smiled and looked out at the sea of shocked faces. "That being _said,_" she emphasized, "I am not the malicious crone you might be thinking. Show up to my class and try your best. If you do that, I will give you the same courtesy. My door is always open. Now. Who's ready to learn a little about biology?"_

Thirty-two students had dropped the class that day.

The students who'd stuck it out with her, however, had flourished, and most were now productive members of the junior class. By the end of that first semester when students were registering for spring classes, Brennan was hearing murmurings of them being advised by her current class to take Bio 103 with "Dr. B." She couldn't help but feel a little surge of pride the first time she was described as the professor who "makes you work your ass off, but it's totally worth it." After that, even though she was no less of a "hard ass," Brennan had developed a more congenial relationship with her students, which she found worked in her favor. She pushed them, but she was also always there for them – just as she'd promised in that first class – and she knew she had their respect for it.

"Okay, gang, test on Monday, so today is review day! Those of you who have me for lab, your lab write-ups are graded and will be available to be picked up from me after three. I'll be in my office if you need anything – if you've got questions while you're _studying_ this weekend," she gave them a teasing glare, knowing full well they'd all try to cram as much knowledge as possible into their heads on Sunday night, "you know I'll be around – drop me an email or call me. So. Before we review, any questions, comments, concerns about life?" she asked with a smile.

"Dr. B?" a young man asked from the back of the lecture hall.

"Yes, Parker?" Brennan replied.

Parker Kennedy shoved a hand through his unruly blonde curls, reminding her so much of a towheaded Parker she'd known once upon a time. "Are we going to need to know the specific names of the bones for this test?"

A groan came from the entire class at Parker's teasing of their professor. "What do you think, Park?" Brennan teased back.

"That you're going to knock points off if I put knee-cap instead of patella."

"Exactly correct!" Brennan smiled gently. "Does anyone have a _real_ question?" Brennan teased her students. "Okay… seeing none," Brennan paused dramatically. "We're going to review with a little _game_," she tempted. "Anyone ever watch Jeopardy?"

"Dr. B, _you_ watch Jeopardy? Isn't that one of those things you-don't-know-what-that-means?" the rest of the class burst into laughter – by her third week at CSU, Brennan had become famous for her astounding lack of pop culture knowledge.

"Very funny, Maggie," Brennan grinned back at the fiery redhead in the third row. "I'll have you know," she lowered her voice conspiratorially, "I happen to kick _ass_ at Jeopardy."

"_What is Machu Pichu?" Brennan asked dryly._

"_What is Machu Pichu?" the contestant on TV echoed._

"_That is correct," Alex Trebek said._

"_I believe that's another thousand for me, which means I'm beating you by… wow. Forty-five hundred dollars, Booth," Brennan teased. Her partner lifted her tee shirt and bent over her very pregnant stomach, addressing the unborn child within. "Katie-slash-Jake, would you please tell your mother that I did _not_ buy her a TV for this _month_ of bed rest so she could kick my ass at Jeopardy?"_

_Brennan laughed almost gleefully as she re-tallied her money. "Five hundred more and you owe me a back rub."_

"_How about a deal?"_

"_What sort of deal?" Brennan asked suspiciously._

"_If _I_ get five hundred more," Booth dropped to one knee on the floor at her bedside. "You marry me."_

**LIKE I SAID. Save the hate mail. Please. Just bear with me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: WOW. Thank you for the awesome response to chapter one! I'm so glad you liked it – like I said, bear with me. If you've read any of my other stuff, you know it's absolutely impossible for me to end a story any way other than happily!**

**Also, I encourage you to read my A/Ns. There's usually some pretty good information that you NEED TO KNOW. **

**Keep those reviews coming! I seriously don't want to have to pay to tan this summer!**

**XOXO,  
KJ**

"_Please don't do this, Booth."_

"_Do what?"_

"_You know what. We made this decision as a __**team**_**. **_We decided you'd raise the baby. You'd be his or her primary care giver. I am essentially a surrogate mother."_

"_Who just happens to be the __**actual **__mother," Booth responded with a slightly bitter tone._

"_Yes. I am the baby's __**biological**__ mother. But __**you**__ are her primary caregiver," Brennan reached down and cupped her hand over his stubbled cheek. "You're going to be the daddy," she said quietly. "But nowhere in this was I secretly hoping you'd ask me to marry you and be the mommy."_

_He looked up at her with a watery smile. "So that's a no?"_

"_That's a no," she repeated. "I'm sorry. I wish I could be the person you need me to be."_

"_No. You are amazing. You… I appreciate everything you've done, because you could have chosen to… you know."_

_His comment stung slightly. "But I didn't. I know how much you love being a father. I didn't want to take that away from you."_

"_I wish there was a way to convince you you'd love being a mother just as much."_

"_I'm sorry, Booth."_

Brennan looked on as her class flew through the Jeopardy questions she posed, complimenting them on their knowledge. She glanced up at the clock and noticed that their time was about up. "Alright," she announced, "final Jeopardy! The category will be… _chapter seven_," she growled menacingly. Her students responded with appropriate shudders of fear, remembering how mightily they'd struggled with the chapter on genetics. "Captains, place your wagers!" The students debated amongst their teams to decide how much to wager. Once the team captains made eye contact with their professor, she went on with the question. "This process is the synthesis of RNA under the direction of DNA."

She looked up into a few puzzled faces and a few faces that she could tell were absolutely certain of the answer. Those faces were the ones that had made her decide to request cutting back her Anatomy classes so she could focus on the entry-level Biology classes. She'd once heard it described as "the light bulb coming on."

"_Dr. Brennan? You wanted to see me?"_

"_Dr. Woods. Yes, thank you. Please come in." Brennan pushed aside the tests she'd been grading and smiled at the chair of her department. "I want to make a request. I'm not very good at this," she paused to take a breath as she prepared to eat her words. "I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the section of Biology you gave me, and I was wondering if I could cut a section of A and P and teach another section of 103."_

"_Well," the older woman smiled again. "This is quite a different Dr. Brennan from the beginning of the semester. What changed your mind?"_

"_You were right," Brennan conceded. "The freshmen weren't as bad as I thought. They're really good kids. I really enjoy teaching them… and the moment they get it? When the…"_

"_The light bulb clicks on?" Dr. Woods asked._

_Brennan smiled. "Exactly. When the light bulb clicks on. It's a great feeling."_

"_You had thirty-two students drop your class on the first day, Dr. Brennan."_

_Brennan was slightly taken aback. "Yes, but I've looked at the registration lists and there's a waiting list for my class that would easily fill another section."_

"_You saw that, huh?" Dr. Woods asked._

"_Pardon?" _

"_Oh, Dr. Brennan. You're stealing my thunder! I wanted to come in here and congratulate you and tell you job well done on your first semester with the freshmen and ask you if I could interest you in another section. You weren't supposed to ask me yourself!"_

_Brennan looked blankly at Dr. Woods._

"_I'm kidding."_

"_Of course!" Brennan laughed. "Of course you are. Me. Stealing your thunder. I get it!"_

_Dr. Woods smiled again and stood. Turning to leave, she gave the newest CSU professor a final compliment: "You've become quite popular, Dr. B."_

The next semester, Brennan had taken on another section of Biology and managed to add one per semester until she was teaching only one Anatomy and Physiology class, one Biology lab, one Anatomy and Physiology lab, three Biology lectures, and an online Biology class. There was barely enough time in the day for her to hold the office hours she'd promised.

"Okay. Let's see your answers. Lexi, you're up."

The bubbly sophomore held up her square of poster board. "What is transcription?"

"Perfect. Good job, team Lexi. What did you wager?"

Lexi flipped over her team's poster board. "We wagered fifteen thousand, Dr. B."

"Nice work, team," Brennan backed to the board and added the money to the team's column. "You end the day with thirty-nine thousand, two hundred dollars. Let's see if Parker or Maggie's teams can catch that."

Brennan went through the other two teams, both having the correct answer, but ending up with slightly less money than the first team. She declared Lexi's team the winner and handed out the m&m's she'd offered as a prize. "Okay, people. Remember: labs after 3 in my office, test Monday, _studying all weekend!!_" she teased. "Now get outta here."

Her students rose to their feet and shuffled quietly up the stairs and out the door. She gathered her materials and stuffed them into her bag, hitting the lights on her way out of the lecture hall. She started down the short corridor, trying to hold her overflowing bag on her shoulder, her coffee in the opposite hand, all without dropping the lap top in her arms. Just as she was about to kick the "up" button, her cell phone started vibrating against her hip. She fished it carefully out and flipped it open, not bothering to check the caller ID. "Dr. Brennan," she answered.

"Hi."

Oh, shit.

"_Push, Dr. Brennan! I just need one more good one and then you'll get to meet your baby!"_

_Brennan grunted and heaved, trying to breathe through the pain. "C'mon, Bones. Baby's almost here," Booth whispered encouragingly in her ear. _

"_I. Can't. DO THIS!" Brennan screamed, clutching Booth's hand in a death grip._

"_Yes you can," he assured her. "You're the strongest woman I know. If anyone can do this, it's you. C'mon Bones. Squeeze my hand as hard as it hurts." _

_Brennan bore down one more time and pushed with every ounce of strength she thought the sixteen hour labor had drained out of her. Just as she was about to say "I quit" and wander around with a child dangling from her body for the rest of her life, the pressure was relieved._

"_She's out!" Dr. Barnes announced._

"_She? A daughter?" Booth beamed._

"_Yep. A baby girl. What's her name?"_

_Booth bent over the bed and dropped a gentle kiss on Brennan's sweat-streaked forehead. "Katie. Katie Christine Booth."_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I wish I could express how much you guys and your amazing reviews mean to me. I appreciate it more than you know.**

_Brennan and Booth sat together on the bed in Brennan's hospital room, Katie snuggled in Booth's arms as she drank hungrily from the bottle he held._

"_She's pretty amazing, huh?" Booth questioned._

_Brennan nodded, absentmindedly stroking the downy fuzz on the baby's head._

"_No second thoughts?" Booth asked quietly._

"_A million," Brennan replied so quietly he could barely hear her. "But…" she paused. "The teaching job in Colorado is a great opportunity. And… we decided. We have to stick to the plan, Booth."_

"_The plan? When have we stuck to a plan before? I didn't __**plan**__to cheat on Jen with you. I didn't __**plan**__ to get you pregnant," he started to say something else but she stopped him._

"_Look where not having a plan got us."_

"_It got us here, Bones. To this hospital. Parents to the most beautiful little girl in the entire world."_

"_She's wonderful, I can't deny that. But this is how it has to work, Booth. We __**have to**__ make it work."_

"_I could put in for a transfer to Denver," he offered._

"_What about Parker?" she countered. "He hated flying back and forth all the time when you and Jen were in Kansas City. These last few months since you moved back have made him the happiest kid in the world."_

_Booth seemed to pull out of the mesmerized haze his new daughter had him in long enough to consider his son. "Right. But what if--" she cut him off again. _

"_I really think it will be better this way," she whispered. "Please believe me, Seeley," she never used his first name, but she wanted to make sure she had his attention. "If I thought there was any other way…"_

"_You would do it."_

_She nodded solemnly as she felt a tear slide down her cheek. Booth pressed his forehead to hers, his own tears flowing with Brennan's, Katie still sandwiched between them. "I never planned to fall in love with you, Bones," he whispered, kissing her gently._

_She took another deep breath before replying. "Me neither."_

"Hi," she responded tentatively.

"Do you know who this is?"

"Of course I do."

"Who is it?" the caller quizzed.

"Knock it off, Booth."

He laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Trying not to kill myself getting in the elevator."

He paused. "I see." He paused again. "Bones. That's where you're supposed to say "what are _you_ doing, Booth?"

She humored him, as she'd grown accustomed to doing, "What are _you_ doing, Booth?"

"Talking to you," she could hear the smile in his voice.

"Okay, then. It's been nice talking to you. I'm going to--"

"Wait, wait, wait, Bones. I was kidding. I was calling to tell you I'm going to be in town this weekend. I'm going to San Diego for Jared's wedding and I have a layover in Denver. I was thinking we could grab a cup of coffee."

"Wow. Uh, you know, any other weekend, Booth, but this weekend I'm really busy. I'm sorry."

He read right through her excuse, just like he always did, the bastard. "Bones. It's just a cup of coffee."

"You don't have a wife that's going to burst through the door, elated to see you?" she muttered.

"Ouch. You're right. That wasn't a very good coffee experience."

She felt immediately guilty. "I'm sorry. That was a pretty cheap shot."

"You know, if every time I talk to you, I have to re-convince you I'm a good guy, I might be tempted to stop calling."

"I always pick up the phone, don't I?"

"Yes. You're nothing if not true to your word, Bones. So. How about that coffee?"

"_All ready?"_

"_Yep, that's the last of it."_

"_I'm gonna miss you," he smiled gently, stroking the back of the hand he held in his larger one._

"_I always miss you," she admitted quietly. "I'll miss you both."_

_He pulled her against him and hugged her tightly, breathing in the fresh scent of her shampoo. Their small daughter squawked from her position next to them in her carrier on the porch._

"_Oh, poor Miss Katie. Are you feeling all sorts of neglected?" Booth turned from Brennan and scooped the baby out of her seat. She was almost instantly soothed and remained quiet._

"_See? You're an amazing father."_

_He nodded glumly. "I still…"_

"_I know. The plan, remember?"_

_He nodded decisively. "The plan," he paused. "Are you going to pick up the phone when I call?"_

_She started to say probably not, but thought better of it. "Of course."_

"_This isn't one of those polite lie things, is it?" he regarded her warily with a small smile._

_She opened her mouth to speak again, and thought better of it again. "No. I can't promise it will be easy for me, but I will pick up the phone if you call." _

_He smiled, shifting Katie to his other arm and reaching into the front pocket of his jeans. "I have something for you."_

She sighed and answered before she could stop herself. "Sure."

"Okay. I have a three hour layover tomorrow – I'm supposed to get in at about ten."

"Okay. I'll pick you up."

"Great. I'm excited to see you, Bones."

"Me too," she paused, not sure how to pose the question she suddenly wanted to ask, so she just threw it out. "How're the kids?"

She could hear the smile in Booth's voice. "They're great. Park's lovin' school, and Katie's good. Jabbers a mile a minute. I don't know what she's talking about half the time, but her brother seems to pick up on her every whim."

"Older siblings have a tendency to… never mind."

Booth chuckled. "It didn't used to be that you could stop yourself once you got on a science tangent."

"I hang out with 18 year olds all day. Trust me, I hear 'Dr. B, I didn't really want to know' on a fairly regular basis," she smiled.

"I always want to hear your scientific tangents."

"You didn't used to," she teased, relaxing slightly. It felt like talking to an old friend. Which, she supposed, he was. One that happened to be the father of her child.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey gang! I know, long time no coffee. Sorry about that – but hey, you're getting kinseyjo, NBI, and 5 Steamboats in the span of about 2 days. What more could a bunch of nutty fangirls ask for?**

**By the way, just a couple house-cleaning items: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, even if you find author's notes boring and think they're just us begging for affection, read mine. I usually put important stuff in them (especially if, hello, they're as long as this one). Some of you seem confused how this whole story came to be. I encourage you to go read Chapter 22 of SSJL's Stories from A Hat, followed by What We Deserve. This is a continuation of those stories and if you read them, this might start to make a whole lot more sense!!**

**Okay, I'll shut up. Enjoy! XOXO, K to the Jo**

**--**

"_What is it?" she hesitated to take the small silver band Booth had pulled from his pocket._

"_It's not on fire, for one thing. Take it, Bones."_

"_What is it?" she repeated, reaching for the delicate ring with the bright pink stone._

"_It's a mother's ring."_

"_Garnet?" she was confused. "Isn't that January?"_

"_Rhodolite is another June birthstone. I liked it better than the pearl. A little more unique and precious, like our daughter."_

"_It's beautiful," she breathed, sliding it on the ring finger of her left hand. Booth took her hand and placed a soft kiss on the cool surface of their daughter's birthstone. _

"_You don't have to wear it if you don't want to," he blushed._

"_No, I'll wear it every day. And maybe when Katie's a little older, she can wear it as a birthstone ring."_

"_Maybe," he repeated softly._

_Brennan cleared her throat. "I better go."_

"_Yeah." They moved slowly to her idling car, stopping by the door to embrace once more._

_Booth handed her the baby and she pressed a kiss to Katie's soft cheek, lingering for a moment, rubbing the baby's back delicately. "I love you," she whispered against Katie's face, breathing in the clean baby smell. "Your mommy loves you, Katie Christine. Never, ever forget that."_

--

"Hey, Dr. B," Brennan looked up at the sound of the nickname bestowed upon her by her students. Parker Kennedy stood in the doorway, his tangle of curls hanging in his face as always.

"Parker, hey. Let me get your lab write-up," Brennan swiveled in her chair and dug through the file cabinet in her small office. She located the file she had been hunting for and handed it across the desk. "Exceptional work, Parker. Your writing has improved tenfold since the beginning of the semester. I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks," Parker beamed at her praise, then immediately shifted gears. "Who's in the picture?" he pointed to the bookshelf behind Brennan.

Brennan smiled fondly, glancing over her shoulder at the photo on display. "That's my daughter, Katie, and her half-brother, who's name is actually also Parker."

"Good name, looks like a cool kid," the college-aged Parker grinned easily.

"He's a great kid. They both are."

"I didn't know you had kids."

"Um, Katie actually lives with her and Parker's dad in Washington, DC. It's a very unique situation," she didn't go into further detail with her student and hoped he'd drop it.

"Yeah? Me too. With my dad I mean. My mom split when my brother was like three and I was nine. Said she was done raising us and it was up to my dad now."

Brennan's stomach churned at Parker's honesty. How could someone do that to their child? That wasn't what she'd done to Katie… was it? "Well I happen to think you turned out pretty great," Brennan said.

Parker grinned again, shoving his curls off his forehead. "Thanks. I think so too. I worry about my little brother though, you know? I mean, my dad always tells us that my mom was such a great lady, and he loved her like crazy, but seriously? How great could she have been? We never got to see her, she never called us on our birthdays, you know? I mean I had lots of friends whose parents were just divorced, but they still got to see both parents. And it kinda sucks for my dad, because he loved her so much, but she didn't love him enough to stay with us? That's pretty fu-," Parker stopped himself with a pointed look from his professor, "_messed_ up, right doc? But I guess. Whatever. She's been gone ten years and we've done okay."

Brennan contemplated Parker's story, the churning in her stomach now almost unbearable. _But_, she reasoned with herself, _you and Booth decided. __**This **__was the plan. He'd raise Katie. By himself. You could be as involved or uninvolved as you wanted. _From somewhere deep inside, another voice piped up. _How is this different than what __**your**__ parents did to __**you**__, Tempe? _The original voice spoke up again. _**Because**__, there is a distinct difference between being dumped in foster care and being raised by a parent who loves you. But __**still**__, _the second voice spoke, _how does Katie know that? Booth tells her, but she's got to know this isn't a normal situation. Is she going to feel like Parker does someday?_

"Doc? You okay?"

"Huh? Sorry, Park. You know, I know it's a crappy situation, but maybe your mom did what she thought was best for you guys."

"I guess, I dunno. I mean no matter how bad things were, I feel like what would have been best for us would be for her to be there."

Brennan took a second before she replied. "You know what, Parker? Sometimes even adults do pretty stupid things that seem like the right thing to do at the time they're doing them."

Parker nodded thoughtfully then shook his head with a grin. "I didn't mean to just 'word vomit' all over your desk. I guess I just started talking and the whole thing just fell out of my mouth."

"Word vomit, huh?" Brennan asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"All the kids are sayin' it," Parker teased, rising from his position across from Brennan.

She grinned back at his teasing. "You know I'm always here. Whenever you need to… vomit," she shuddered.

"Thanks Dr. B. You're the best."

"You're welcome, Parker. Anytime. Now go study," she winked.

"Library, here I come," Parker waved as he headed out the door.

Watching her student retreat down the hall, Brennan had to wonder. Parker seemed like such a well-adjusted kid, but he was really torn up about his mom leaving. Was that because he was old enough to remember what she was like, or was that exactly what she was doing to Katie?

_--_

_Brennan sifted through the large stack of mail her neighbor Mali had been collecting for her while she had been in Argentina on a dig. Bill, bill, bill, she paused. A large pink envelope postmarked DC. What could that be? She tore into the envelope and read the front of the enclosed card. "Happy First Mother's Day!" Her stomach sank to her shoes. No, Tempe. Do not be upset. Booth was just being… thoughtful. Damn him. She flipped open the card and read the rest of the generic Hallmark message, smiling gently when she saw how carefully Booth had printed "XOXO, Love, Katie" at the bottom. _

_She looked down at the two wallet-sized pictures and one five-by-seven sized picture that had fallen to the table. In hers, Katie wore a hot pink tee shirt that said "Daddy's Little Bug" on the front and a pair of jeans with little pink ladybugs on the cuffs. Her dark hair was in two pigtails that stuck straight off the top of her head, and she gave the camera a gummy grin, her bright blue eyes sparkling. In his, Parker was dressed in a blue-striped button down shirt and khaki pants, a shiny mouthful of braces straightening his teeth. In the photo of the two of them together, Parker lounged on his side and Katie sat in front of him, leaning forward a little, her chubby fingers splayed out on the soft carpet they sat on._

_She flipped the pictures over and recognized Booth's block print: KATIE CHRISTINE 10 MOS, PARKER JAMES 11 YRS. _

_She glanced at the inside of the card to see his handwritten note: HEY BONES, THOUGHT YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE PICS OF THE KIDS – THEY'RE GETTING SO BIG! KATIE'S TEETHING LIKE A CRAZY WOMAN, SHE'LL HAVE A MOUTHFUL BEFORE WE KNOW IT. SHE'S TOUGH THOUGH, JUST GIVE HER SOMETHING TO CHEW ON AND SHE'S GOOD TO GO. ) PARKER WON THE DISTRICT SCIENCE FAIR – SOMETHING HE REMEMBERED YOU TEACHING HIM ABOUT THE SOLAR SYSTEM? IT WAS TOO COMPLEX FOR HIS OLD MAN, BUT BECCA AND I WERE REALLY PROUD – HE GOT HIS PICTURE IN THE POST AND EVERYTHING! _

_EVERYTHING ELSE IS GOOD HERE, YOUR SQUINTS MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY. ANGE TOLD ME SHE AND JACK WERE PLANNING A TRIP OUT THERE THIS SUMMER – BY THE WAY, YOUR BEST FRIEND IS ABOUT THE MOST GORGEOUS PREGNANT WOMAN I'VE EVER SEEN – BESIDES YOU OF COURSE. ) I GOT A PROMOTION LAST WEEK, LITTLE LESS FIELD TIME, BUT IF I'M HONEST IT HASN'T REALLY BEEN AS MUCH FUN SINCE YOU LEFT. _

_OH HEY! CAM'S PREGNANT TOO! I'M SURROUNDED BY CRAZY HORMONAL WOMEN! GOOD THING I DON'T SPEND AS MUCH TIME AT THE JEFFERSONIAN AS I USED TO. WHEN I __DO_ _HAVE FIELD WORK TO DO, ZACK IS A GREAT HELP. WHO KNEW WHEN JACK AND I SAID WE NEEDED TO GET THE KID A GIRLFRIEND WE ACTUALLY NEEDED TO GET HIM A BOYFRIEND? ) HE'S MELLOWED OUT QUITE A BIT, I THINK MARC HELPS WITH THAT. _

_OKAY, I'M GONNA CUT THIS SHORT BEFORE I START SOUNDING LIKE A GOSSIPY OLD HEN. ) I'LL GIVE THE KIDS KISSES FOR YOU. HOPE EVERYTHING IS GOING WELL. LOVE, BOOTH_

_She folded the letter back up and dropped onto the couch, curling her legs underneath her. She traced her fingertips over Katie's face, and then Parker's, barely noticing when a tear dripped down her cheek and hit the photo._


End file.
